Emily's training blog

It's raining!  It's pouring!  The treadmill is so boring!   Yes, I resorted to the treadmill this morning to avoid the damp weather.   Summer, PLEASE come soon!!! 

I ran ten miles, starting at 8.0 mph and getting progressively faster every half mile.   The total time sas 67:35.  I felt good and in control.   My sneaky little daughter stole my heel insterts out of my running shoes and hid them somewhere.  I may have sore calves tomorrow.  That will teach me to leave my running shoes in the family room, in reach of a sixteen-month-old!

I continued my no chocolate commmitment yesterday, but I'm not sure it mattered.  Mother's Day was celebrated with too much food!   I appreciated the fruit, yogurt, and granola parfaits that my husband made me, but probably could have done without the accompanying cinnamon rolls.   We barbecued steak and chicken for dinner, and followed that up with fruit pizza.   Overall, a calorie filled Mother's Day!  I enjoyed the time with my husband and babies!  Now, time to get serious again!

My right hip was sore after yesterday's run.  To avoid an injury recurrence, I cross trained this morning.  I did the elliptical for an hour, starting at level 8 and increasing every 20 minutes.  Hopefully I will be back to pain free running tomorrow.   This is the first stress reaction/fracture that I have had that continues to ache upon resuming training.   It never seems to get worse, but just gets achey from time to time.  It's difficult to know how hard to push it. 

I had no pain running, which is a very good thing.  My leg just seems to hurt a little during the day, especially in the evening.  I guess I just need to keep an eye on it, but I ran with no problems. 

I ran out 4800 to the entrance to the River trail.  I ran to Bullion, and then turned around and came back.  The rolling hills coming back up 4800S were tough.  It was that weird temperature where I was too hot wearing a long sleeve, but too cold when I took it off.  Otherwise, it was a nice morning, though I am looking forward to improving weather the next few days.   My total time for the run was 1:06:12.  I may feel that pace during tomorrow's workout. 

My hip is still feeling pretty good.   I met Devra down on the river trail for a fartlek run.  We ran a 15 minute warm up, and then ran 15 x 1 minute on/1minute off, and then cooled down 15 minutes.  It was such a beautiful morning to be out running, and I love having a running partner!   My legs were a little tired from yesterday's 10 miler, but other than that I felt pretty good.  I'm running the Law Days 5k on Saturday, and hopefully this is the year that the Olson-Shaner team wins.  The same team has won every year, so maybe we'll break their streak!   It should be fun.

I took my favorite running partner, Cole, for a ride on the river trail this morning.  I have been taking Cole on runs since he was about 4 months old.  He has always loved the running stroller.  He's a tiny boy, but still much heavier than he used to be.  It was some serious work pushing him along this morning.  But, it was fun looking at the ducks and geese, and any other random thing that catches a four-year-old's fancy.  I'm going to be sad when he outgrows the running stroller.  Maybe Lily will want a turn. 

I've had a change in racing plans.  I was supposed to run in Duluth, MN at Grandma's Half Marathon, but in the span of two weeks the plane ticket prices jumped from 600 dollars (which was a lot) to 800 dollars (ouch!).   So, the following week I am going to run the RNR Half in Seattle.   My mom lives there, so it will give me a good excuse to go visit her.  Plus, airfare, hotel, and race entry (if I don't get a comp.)  totals about half what it would cost me to go to Duluth.  So, I will be extending my no chocolate commitment for one more week. 

I wasn't feeling that great this morning as I warmed up for the race.   Teren and I went on a date to a French cooking class at Sur La Table last night.  The food was excellent, but I'm not sure it agreed with my stomach, since I woke up with the taste of garlic still in my mouth. 

I warmed up by running the course, and was pleasantly surprised that it felt easier than two years ago when I ran it.   Of course, I was eight weeks pregnant at the time!   I was really excited for the team competition, because we seemed to have a pretty good shot at winning.

The Law Days 5k course is pretty tough.  The first mile is all uphill, and today we had a fairly stiff headwind too.  I traded the lead with Emily Bates, the top girl on the competing team, through the first mile.   (Note to self:  More hill repeats, more weights, more core!)   I put a surge on after the first mile when we made the turn off of the hill.  The course flattens out, and then winds back through campus.  It's mostly downhill at this point, but it does have some pretty nasty hairpin turns where you have to head back uphill.   I tried to increase my lead, and was feeling pretty good

There is a point in the course where it doubles back to the start.   There were still people heading to the first mile crossing through.  I couldn't see the cones that indicated the direction I was supposed to run, so I came pretty much to a complete stop until someone pointed out the way.  (I'm sure this cost me a few seconds!)  Then we dropped down to 1300 East and it was back to the Law School for the finish. 

I was happy to get a win, and even happier that our team won the team competition.  I was disappointed in my time.  It is 9 seconds faster than I ran a few weeks ago at the Salt Lake 5k.  I also think this course was more difficult.  I just had hoped to be a little further along on my journey to sub 18 minute 5ks.  

My stomach was cramping badly after the race.  Devra and I ran a two mile cooldown.  I wanted to go 4, but I was struggling after 15 minutes of running.  So, when I got home, I ran through the neighborhood to finish my mileage.  My stomach seems to be recovering, now.

Well, I will just keep plugging along on the path back to running fitness!   I really want to be fast again!